All pro surfers worldwide at one point in their surfing experience started out as beginners. Surfers entertain themselves by dropping into the ocean and sea waves and travel along the face of the wave. The following guidelines will help you to learn how to surf more easily and quickly;
Choosing the right surfing spot
For any beginner it is advisable to find a little if not a free space to practice from since surfing with other experienced surfers and beginners could prove to be a wrong move. Surfing breaks vary greatly and if you can learn from the wrong ones it will likely slow the learning process from start to the finish line and may even at extreme cases get you hurt and hence an embarrassment before other surfers. The hint is that you should try as much as you can to forget surf breaks over corals or rocks and choose to surf in a beach with easy break waves of about 2 to 4 feet. This is the best place to start.
Paddling
You can not understand how to surf if you can not learn the paddling skill. It is the most essential skill in surfing and a lot of initial effort is needed to achieve its rewards. It is necessary to walk your table deep into the water until your waist submerges. Always keep your weight centered and try to obtain an optimum position for trimming. Once the table starts to glid through the water easily know that you have achieved a good trim position, maintain this position. You can now start paddling using your cupped arms and hands.
Duck-Diving
To avoid getting hammered by every wave break that comes your way it is prudent that you learn the duck diving technique which will allow u pass under the strong breaking waves as and when they occur. When approaching the wave try to gain as much velocity as you possibly can, with about 2 feet separating you and the wave grab the edges of your surfing board halfway between the midpoint and your fore head.Push your body weight in your hands while pointing your head down and let your table flotation lift you to the surface as the wave passes.
Standing Up
Standing up on a surfing board is not that easy as it seems. There are several steps to be taken to maintain the balance and paddling velocity. Some of the basic steps are;
- Hop up when you feel that the momentum of your surfboard is fast than your paddling velocity.
- Push up quickly with your hands tight on the rail
- Keep your weight centered with little forward slant while extending your arms simultaneously and pulling your knees to your chest quickly.
- Place one foot near the tail and the other foot just above the mid section of the surfboard firmly.
- Always keep a low gravitational pull by crouching down and not erect standing.
Learning how to surf is complete after mastering how to paddle and standing you can therefore learn other paddling skills such as wave angles, and wave catching.
